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2h ago
IID, Inc. and San-Ei Co., Ltd. announced on October 8, 2026 that WePlay Expo JAPAN 2027 will be held over three days at Makuhari Messe Halls 5 and 6 from April 2 to April 4, 2027. The first day is a business day with no general admission, and April 3 and 4 are public days. Paid general and business tickets are planned for both, with opening hours, prices, and the sales start date to be announced later. The executive committee of the two companies is organizing the event, with CiGA (China indie Game Alliance), one of the organizing bodies of WePlay Expo, as licensor and producer. The event is the Japanese edition of WePlay Expo, the game culture event that started in Shanghai in 2017. Planned content covers trial play of PC, console, and mobile titles from AAA to indie games, an organizer-run play area, gaming devices, merchandise sales at exhibitor booths, stage events, and business networking.
3d ago
The LoveLive! Orchestra Concert will be held on January 10 and 11, 2027 at Chiba Prefectural Culture Hall, with Grand Philharmonic Tokyo performing. Guest vocals from μ's are scheduled to feature Emi Nitta, Aya Uchida, Pile, Riho Iida, and Aina Kusuda. The earliest advance ticket lottery opens at 10:00 on September 26. The January 11 date is listed in two parts, day and night.
Sep 16
Konami Arcade Games announced that beatmania IIDX 34 ZINRAI, the latest entry in its arcade music game series, has begun operation sequentially. The title carries the concept Digital Elegance, with visuals renewed from the previous entry, and adds a Chart Information Display Function, a DJ LEVEL VIEW, Level-Specific PICK UP Folders for levels 7 through 12, a BPM-Change Song Countermeasure Option, and updated medals.
Sep 16
The Game Designers Award, founded in 2010 by game director Masahiro Sakurai, will end in 2026. Sakurai, who is chief judge, announced the close at a ceremony on September 15. Seventeen works won the award across its run, from Heavy Rain in 2010 to Moji Yuge in 2026. The theme is the evaluation of games' originality and novelty.
Sep 14
Terui-do LLC will exhibit for the first time at Tokyo Game Show 2026 under the name Rojiura Developers Cloud, a community formed after TGS expanded to five days starting in 2026. The joint booth with Blast Edge Games Inc. runs in Hall 9 at the Indie Game Corner, booth H9-E32, with five playable titles. The lineup includes KARATE ROGUE, a karate-building roguelike RPG with a demo on Steam and a full release planned within 2026, and Animaroid Girl, a multi-ending raising ADV set in a kemonomimi, Hong Kong, cyberpunk world. The other three are XenoTechArena, a roguelike arena shooter built around crashing enemies into each other, God-Slaying Blue Silver, a region-conquest simulation RPG available on Steam since July 21, 2026, and Sushi Shogi, a turn-based board game where taking an opponent's piece means paying for the sushi, set for Steam in March 2027. TGS2026 runs September 17 to September 21 at Makuhari Messe.
Sep 12
Producer Kazutaka Iida discussed the use of AI in the second season of "VIVANT," the TBS Sunday Theater drama, in remarks tied to Episode 17, which aired on September 6. Iida said the show's AI element, including the AI Hayato operated by the Self-Defense Forces unit Bekihan, has what he called a bigger aim than the era's inevitability or its function as an information organizer. That aim, he said, is making characters' emotions stand out more: the combination of the group's mechanical quality with AI heightens the inhuman atmosphere so that scenes of people feeling for others read as more human. In Episode 17, protagonist Nogi Yusuke, played by Masato Sakai, made a move applying AI technology. Iida also said Episode 17 drew more emotional comments on social media than the episodes up through Episode 16, and that he considers the episode the essence of the series.
Aug 27
Kogado Studio announced on August 27, 2026, its new visual novel "Sugar Lies," a short-form ADV themed around lies that depicts a summer boy-meets-girl story. The Steam version is scheduled for release at the end of 2026, with the Nintendo Switch version arriving in spring 2027. Download versions for both platforms are priced at 2,860 yen (tax included), while the Switch physical version costs 4,000 yen. The game is produced by the team "S:OWLS," which previously made "To the Fading Mirror Flower." The protagonist, Akito Nagatsuki, is a university freshman who despises lies and has a peculiar constitution that makes him ill, sometimes vomiting, when he senses others' acting or lies. The heroine, Yui Sakuramiya, is a former child prodigy actress who always plays the image others desire; she is voiced by Ikumi Hasegawa. Also appearing is Akari Yukihira, a laid-back childhood friend and stage actress since childhood, voiced by Hikaru Iida. A playable prologue demo will be available at Tokyo Game Show 2026 from September 17 to 21 at the Konami Digital Entertainment booth, and a special stream featuring the producer and Hikaru Iida will air on September 18.
Aug 10
KADOKAWA's KDcolle brand is releasing a 1/6 scale figure of Chiyo from The Elder Sister-Like One, based on an original illustration by Pochi Iida for Comic Market. Pre-orders open Friday, July 17. The figure is sculpted by miya and features detachable parts for an alternate state.